Winterhawks win 7th in a row with 6-2 victory over Victoria

The Portland Winterhawks (11-3-1-0) won their seventh straight game with a 6-2 victory over the visiting Victoria Royals (9-7-0-0) Friday at the Rose Garden in front of 7,132 fans.

Victoria opened the scoring 3:34 into the game on a power play goal by Brandon Magee to take a 1-0 lead. The Hawks evened the game at the 7:35 mark when Ty Rattie fed Brendan Leipsic in the slot, who fired one past Royals netminder Patrik Polivka to make it 1-1.

Portland took a 2-1 lead at the 12:44 mark when Josh Hanson fed Rattie at the side of the net with a pass from the opposite point, and Rattie buried it for his 10th goal of the season. The Hawks added one more with 17.2 seconds left in the frame on a goal by Nic Petan to take a 3-1 lead after a period in which they outshot Victoria 30-11.

The score remained 3-1 until the 15:52 mark of the second, but the final four-plus minutes of the period featured four goals. First, Taylor Peters took a cross-ice pass from Tyler Wotherspoon and beat Polivka to make it 4-1. After Victoria got one back on a power play goal by Jordan Fransoo at the 18:16 mark to cut Portland’s lead to 4-2, the Hawks responded quickly. Taylor Leier made it 5-2 in favor of the Hawks 25 seconds after Fransoo’s goal, and that was followed just 28 seconds later by Petan’s second of the night as the Hawks made it 6-2 after 40 minutes.

The Royals opened the third period with a change in net, as Coleman Vollrath took over for Polivka, and the two teams were scoreless in the period as the Hawks finished with the 6-2 win.

Brendan Burke earned the win in net for Portland, stopping 27 of 29 shots. Polivka allowed six goals on 42 shots through two periods, while Vollrath made five saves on five shots during his 20 minutes of play in the third.

With his three points, Rattie extended his point streak to nine games, during which he has 21 points. Petan’s three points extended his scoring streak to six games, a span in which he has 14 points, including five multi-point games. Tyler Wotherspoon also added three assists in the win.

The Hawks and Royals face off again tomorrow at the Rose Garden at 7 p.m.